Friday, November 27, 2009
Spring Mill State Park 11.21.2009
On our way out of town to Spring Mill, we stopped at Sullivan's Hardware to experience their annual Turkey Fest. We donated a bag of clothing to Goodwill there and in return received a cool Sullivan's hat (which you can see Jesse wearing in the photos) and a reusable shopping bag. We sampled trashcan turkey...mmmm... and ate free Tagalong Blizzards. We also got to see Dr. Dirt! On display were 15 various ways of cooking a turkey as well as many other types of Thanksgiving fare. We recommend Turkey Fest completely.
After a pre-11:00 a.m. McDs stop (breakfast for Jesse) and a post-11:00 a.m. McDs stop (lunch for Abby), we arrived in Mitchell, IN at Spring Mill State Park. We got in for free by whoopin' out our 2010 annual pass!!! We snapped a quick photo at the entrance and then took a quick look at the camp store and BMX track. Both were relatively closed but seemed cool. We did a brief tour of the camp ground and its luxuriously heat-free restrooms. Jesse and Cooper found a cave in the nearby woods while Abby enjoyed the facilities.
After loading up the backpack and Cooper's pack, we started on our hike. We started on Trail 3 near the Inn and almost immediately found a sink hole cave. We realized right away that we had no flashlight, which is a grave mistake for this park. The caves are its best feature by far and flashlights are a must. Jesse squirreled his way into the sink hole cave and explored it as best he could with no light. We then headed on down the trail over the top of Donaldson Cave, and met Bronson Cave. We tried to go into it, but once again were met with some defeat because of our lack of light. Nevertheless, it was awesome. The photo of Bronson Cave is from the inside looking out and you will see an observation deck. Trail 3 is listed as rugged but we found its 2.5 miles to be moderate. On down the trail, we came up Twin Caves. Twin Caves features a boat tour during summer months! It will cost you $3 from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We will go back and do it. It was at this point that we first saw some signs warning visitors to stay out of the caves because the DNR is trying to keep the park's bat population from contracting White Nose Syndrome, which is killing bats in the East and Northeast. The Twin Caves boat tour is still operating despite the risks of the disease, so we went down and checked them out. They are huge and a sizable stream flows through them. See the photo of Jesse and Cooper walking in the waiting area for the boat tour.
On down Trail 3 just east of Twin Caves we found the enormity of the trees to be overwhelming. The entire trail is surrounded by sink holes and we saw many more potential cave entrances. Jesse made an effort to check out many of them. We didn't see many people this day as it's later in the season. The weather, though, was perfect, at about 70 degrees and sunny. We wore shorts and T shirts. Crazy for late November in Indiana! We also saw a beech tree carved with the initials of a couple and then dates they had hiked the trail, starting in the late 70s and continuing for 30 years to this year. Carving trees is stupid but this was cool.
Upon finishing Trail 3 loop, we hooked up to Trail 4 and headed down the canyon to the gaping mouth of Donaldson Cave. Inside, we didn't find chocolates as Jesse had hoped, but we did find super cool rock formations and the sound of a huge waterfall deep inside the cave. Jesse climbed around a little to read the sign from the 20s when an IU professor was studying the blind cave fish that live inside. Cooper was not happy when Jesse climbed out of her sight, as she could no longer do her job of keeping an eye on us both. She cried the entire time he was out of sight and shunned him upon his return. We hiked out and were planning to complete the loop of Trail 4 through the Pioneer Village, until our plans were derailed by a sign stating that no pets are allowed any further, because pets are not allowed in the village. See photo.
Instead of disobeying the sign like the bad kids we are, we decided to turn around. The park was hosting a period Thanksgiving dinner in one of the pioneer buildings and we didn't want to piss of the DNR. We retraced our steps down Trail 4 to Trail 1 and looped back up to the Inn and our trusty Explorer. We dropped of Cooper and the walked to the pioneer village to see the sights. The village contains any original 1800s buildings, including a mill, tavern, distillery, apothecary, school, and homes. The mill is powered by water that pours from the mouth of Hamer Cave, where it harnessed with a dam and funneled into the flume, which turns the huge wheel of the mill. We followed the flume back to its origin at the mouth of the cave and found the water to be eerily blue and of course 54 degrees, the constant temperature of all caves. A concrete company still pumps water from here and uses it for aggregates. The mill can operate year-long due to the water from the cave which never freezes because of its constant temperature. We found a couple more caves after following small streams that flowed through the village.
We hiked out and headed back to the Inn, where Abby had a close encounter with a bear. See the photo. We sat down to another delicious buffet dinner, which included fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn bread, white fish, roast beef, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and the ever-present sweet tea. Conspicuously missing were the fried biscuits and apple butter. Abby was wildly disappointed. The food was good but just didn't quite measure up to previous Inn meals. We checked out the Inn and found a nice game room, an indoor-outdoor pool, and a gift shop with no patches but other good plastic junk. We saw a 1954 map on the wall and were surprised to find the park virtually unchanged from them except for the location of the camp ground and addition of the BMX track.
We found Spring Mill to be among the best we have so far visited, partially because neither one of us had ever been there and we were surprised by the enormity of the caves. We had no preconceived notions so it was all brand new and good. We are planning to return as soon as the ban on spelunking is lifted, with plenty of equipment, so we can thoroughly explore the caves.
Sullivan's Hardware
6955 N. Keystone Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
317.255.9230
www.sullivanhardware.com
Spring Mill State Park
3333 State Road 60 East
Mitchell, IN 47446
812.849.4129
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Cash 11.16.09
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Brown County 11.7.2009
We decided to go to Brown County since most of the leaves have fallen and we figured the hordes of tourists would be gone. We were mostly right. Instead of entering through the typically-used west gate, we enjoyed crossing the covered bridge of the north gate. Instead of one large lane like most, it has two separate lanes. It appeared to be a Burr Arch. Entering the north gate gets you right near the pool and parking for mountain bike trails. At the north gate, we excitedly purchased our 2010 annual state parks pass for the bargain price of $36. Something we immediately noticed since the visits of our childhoods is the addition of many miles of bike trails. This seemed to be pretty popular.
We started our hike on Trail 10, which starts just behind the main fire tower, near the park office. We didn't climb the fire tower, because the dogs were with us, but we did visit the delightful pit toilets nearby. Ew. Trail 10 is labeled as "rugged", but proved to be more moderate in our opinion. There was a fair amount elevation change, so this could be strenuous to some, but it was mostly gradual. The trail featured a small frog pond at the halfway point of its 2.2 mile loop. Also, there was a nice little creek at the bottom of the hollow, and the dogs drank plenty. There was also a small shelter house that has a fireplace and graffiti. We met some nice people on this trail and Jesse got to take some photos for an especially nice group of IU and Purdue fans. It wasn't crowded, but we did see some people. We met another beagle also, and she was scared of the sound of leaves crunching! Overall, Trail 10 was a nice hike with lots of good views of nature.
After a drink from the spigot behind the Hoosier Nest, we realized we didn't have any batteries in the camera! So, we headed to the country store located in the park's campground. It was supposed to be closed, but we got lucky, and it was open. It had lots of good junk, like slushies, park souvenirs, popcorn, camping supplies, and stuffed animals. And batteries. We sat down in the shade, enjoyed our slushie, and loaded the batteries into the camera.
We then started our next hike on Trails, 5, 4, and 7, which link together. Trail 5 is a self-guided nature tour, with stops displaying different sites in the Ogle Lake Nature Preserve. We couldn't find the brochure, so we didn't know what the sites on the tour were, but it was cool anyway. Jesse just made up a bunch of crap as usual and pretended to know everything. Trail 5 was really great and we saw lots of good nature stuff. Trail 5 led us to 4, which then led to 7. Trail 7 surrounds Ogle Lake, and is Abby's most-hiked as a kid, but it is crowded. A lot of people seem to make 7 their one hike for the day for its nice views of the lake. So, we got on 7 for a bit, but it was way too crowded for us, so we backtracked and got back to 4 and headed up, up, and up back toward the rally campground where we started. We recommend doing 4 and 5, which can be done as a loop and leaving 7 for the tourists.
Next, we drove all through the park and oohed and aahed at the vistas. The vistas would have been incredible about two weeks ago, but they were still PDC. We also took a quick look at the other lookout towers, which we found out were built in the 30s and 40s by the CCC. Then, we headed hungrily toward the Abe Martin Lodge. Near the lodge are the different cabins that can be rented. Some of them looked really neat and might be worth a return trip to stay for the night. The lodge was busy and offered no rooms for the night. We didn't want to stay anyway since we had to get home to watch Jesse's beloved fighting on TV. Part of the reason for the busyness of the lodge may have been the three weddings taking place in the park this day. Outdoor weddings in November?!? They got lucky cause it was 65 and sunny!
Anyway, once at the Abe Martin Lodge, we found the dining room upstairs and partook of its buffet. Jesse had intentionally starved himself this day and so he gorged himself into a food-induced coma. The weapons included roast beef, fried chicken, mashed taters, fried biscuits with apple butter, mac 'n' cheese, candied carrots, salad, potato soup, peach cobbler, chocolate cake, and glasses upon glasses of sweet tea. Our bill totaled around $33. The food was good, but maybe not quite to the par of Turkey Run Inn. There was a musician in the dining room. Jesse accurately predicted his first two songs as James Taylor and John Denver. You know the type. He did play a Johnny Cougar Mellencamp song too, given the close proximity to BTown.
It was a good trip, and Brown County and all its acreage offered lots of amenities. On a side note, we had several inquiries about the dogs' backpacks, and so here is some info: We purchased the packs from REI Outlet online and they were each about $25. Campmor online also had a good selection, but we went with REI since it offers a dividend on all purchases. The dog packs are nice because the dogs can carry their own stuff. Plus, they look really cute.
Brown County State Park
North gate: 1801 SR 46 E
West gate: 1405 SR 46 W
Nashville, IN 47448
812.988.6406
REI Outlet
Campmor
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